Machine for treating photographic moving-picture films



C. A. SENTOU AND E. IACQUET.

MACHINE FOR TREATING PHOTOGRAPHIC MOVING PICTURE FILMS. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8 I920.

1,385,403. Patentd July 26,1921.

IEIIII'LnHIIUIIIIIL 7 INVENTORS (LA, Sentow AT ORNEY The portion of the film below 7 Application filed November 8, 1920. 7 Serial No. 422,719.

UNITED sures 'CAHILLE A. SENTOU AND ETIENNE JACQ'O'ET, OF FORT LEE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNO-BS FATE-NT- OFFICE.

TO SEN-J'AOQ FILM PRINT. 00., OF FORT LEE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF m JERSEY:

' nacnmn roa ramrme rnorosaarmc Moms-Herons mars.

To all whom it may concern:

- Be it known .that we, GAMILLE A. SENTOU and ETIENNE JAo UnT, both citizens of the Republic of France, and residents of Fort Lee, county of Bergen, and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Treating Photographic Moving-Picture Films, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

An object of our invention is to provide a machine of the character mentioned which will eliminate the wear upon the perforations of the film and reduce'chances of rupturing the film, while the same is subjected to developing, fixing, tinting anddrying.

An object of the invention is to provide a festoon or loop-forming machine, which machine has means adapted to maintain the length of the loops or festoons substantially constant, while the said loops or festoons are subjected to difierent solutions, or belng dried, and in consequence may vary the length due to the treatment.

To attain the different objects of our invention 'we utilize" as driving members for the propulsion of the film, smooth surface driving members, in lieu of utilizing toothed members as is common in'machines of this type hitherto employed. Means are provided between adjacent driving members to continuously maintain a festoon or loop between and below the said driving members. the said driving members while in motion is being treated in suitable tubes or vats, provided with the proper chemicals, or is dried in a suitable chamber. I

Inview of the fact that the materials forming the loops of the film are subjected to different chemicals during their propulsion, and the material of the film not being absolutely uniform, the deformation in the or lengthening takes body of the film causes shortening of some of the loops and lengthening ofothers; In view of this it is necessary to provide some means whereby the lengthening and shortening of the loops is to be prevented by varying the speed of the film 1n motion, in proximity of these loops vvihere the shortening p ace.

The change in speed may be obtained by presenting a contact surface to the film which has a varying peripheral speed, al-

Speclflcation of Letters Iatent.

Patented July 26', 1921.

though the speed of the axis remains constant. One form of such arrangement is disclosed 1n the appended drawing in which similar character references indicate corresponding Fig. 2 is a plan of the fragment, as shown 1 in Fig. 1,

3, is an enlarged plan of one of the driving members, and means associated therewlth for varying the speed of the film while the driving member is rotating at constant speed.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the driving member and cam, and Fig. 5, is a side elevation of the said driv in member and compensating means.

ef 0re proceeding to a more detailed de scrlption of the form of the invention illustrated, it must be understood that the .film is fed to the machine or from the machine,

For this purpose, we provide a smooth cylindrical member 7, driven at constant ripheral speed from the master shaft 8. he contact of the film 13 with the cylinder is maintained .by a pressure roller 9 which is held against the cylinder 7 by a yielding member 10,co6 erating in any suitablemanner with the rame 11, which carries the rollers. This arrangement permits us to feed a constant length of film per unit of time. The driving members 12 which follow the film feeding device are truncated cones driven also from the master shaft 8. The said driving members are spaced so that festoons or loops 13 may be formed therebetween by means of spools or rollers 14 which form the weights for maintaining the loops, these loops being adapted to immerse .in tubes 15 disposed below the frame 16,

which carries the propulsion mechanism for at a constant speed by any suitable means.

is nearer to the large base of the driving members, and it is self evident that the normal tendency of the moving film at all times is to ride toward the larger base of the driving members. Therefore, by regulating the position of the film on the conical surface of the driving members, it is possible to vary the speed of the film itself, although the driving members are rotating. at constant s eed, thereb preventing the'shortening or e ongati ng of the loops 13, within a predetermined limit.-

To control the position of the film on the conical driving members, we provide a cam 17 for each dllVlIlg member, which is preferably mounted to oscillate about the axis of the corresponding driving member, and which cam is adapted to bear against the edge of the film nearest to the larger base of the corresponding driving member. The cam itself is in the shape of an inclined plane preferably arcuated to be coaxial with the driving member, and by varying the angular position of the cams it is possible to allow the film to move laterally on the driving members while the film is propulsed, the frictional engagement of the edge of the film with the cam being negli ible.

The angular movement 0 each cam is controlled from the spooll l which the cam overhangs, through t e medium of a flexible member 18, one end of which is connected to an arm 19 of a corresponding cam, and the other end to a yoke 20 which bears in the corresponding spool. Each of the cams is provided with corresponding counterbalances 21 torender the movement of the cam more responsive to the changes of lengthof the loops 13 which may take place due to its uneven expansion or contraction caused by the treatment of the film with liquids, or while drying. From the description it will be seen that if a loop 13 begins to shorten, the shortening of the loop will carry therewith a spool 14, thereby permitting the counterbalance 21 of the corresponding cam to move the cam 17 angularly, and in consequence move the film laterally on the corresponding driving member 12 toward the smaller base of the driving memfilm on the driving member, the speed of the film on the said driving member will be reduced thereby preventing the shortening of the correspondin loop. On the other hand, if a loop 13 Iengthens it permits a spool 14 to descend, in consequence carrying therewith the cam and permitting the film to ride on the conical surface laterally toward the larger base of the conical driving member, thereby increasing the speed of the film, and, in consequence preventing the lengthening of the corresponding loop.

In spite of the fact that we have described a speclfi'c form of our invention, we

lengt 1. In a machine of the class described,

means for propulsing a film, means for forming a loop .in the film, and means associated with the film propulsion means and operated from the loop forming means to vary the speed of the film so as to maintain substantially constant the length of the loo 2 In a machine of .the class described, means for propulsing a film, gravitational means for forming a loop in the moving film and means associated with the film propulsion means and operated from the loop forming means to vary the speed of the film so as to maintain substantially constant the length of the loop.

3. In a machine of the class described, smooth surface driving means, means for proplusing a film, means for forming a loop in the moving film, and means associated with the smooth surface driving means and operated from the loop forming means to vary the speed of the film so as to mainiain a loop of substantially constant 4. In a machine of the class described, filmpropulsion means adapted to have varying peripheral speeds, means for forming a loop in the moving film and-means associated with the film propulsion means and operating from the loop forming means to affect the position of the film on the driving means so as to maintain a loop of substantially constant length. Y

5. In a mach'ne of the class described, a driving cone for propulsing a film, gravitational means for forming a loop in the moving film and means associated with the cone and operating from the loop forming means to move the film laterally on the cone so as to maintain a loop of substantially constantlen h.

6. In mac ine of the class described, a

or forming a loop in the film below the driving cone, a cam adapted to engage an edge of the film to move the film laterallydriving cone for propulsing a film, means ber. Due to tlns lateral dlsplaceme'nt of the f pulsing a -film, gravitational means for forming a loop in the film below the driving member, means associated with the driving member and operable from the loop forming member and adapted to aifect the speed of the film so as to maintaina loop of substantially constant length.

9. In a machine of the'class described, a smooth surface driving member, means for driving the said member at a constant speed, gravitationally operable means for forming a loop in the film below the driving member, means associated with the driving member and adapted to engage the film to affect the position of the film on the driving member,. and motion transmission means connecting the loop forming means to the means for varying the position of the film on the driving member.

CAMILLE A. SENTOU. ETIENNE JACQUET. 

